“I don’t think it’s evil,” he said. “I don’t think it’s evil. I think these are young people and I think they have bad home training.”

“I have no idea who is raising these young people, because no one I know on earth who is 17-years-old or 70-years-old would ever think of treating another person like that,” he continued. “You wonder, at 18-years-old, where is your parent, where is your guardian?”

A number of prominent far-right conservatives and outlets took Lemon to task over his comments.

So during a panel discussion tonight on the subject, Lemon made an understated defense of himself.

Bringing up the push by alt-right figures to blame the crime on Black Lives Matter by pushing the hashtag #BLMkidnapping to trend on Twitter, Lemon noted that “it’s sickening that fake news organizations continue to push this fake narrative.”

A few minutes later, he went back to calling out fake news and information, but this time in a different context. He first asked if anyone on the panel did not think it was a hate crime. (The attackers have now been charged with hate crimes.) After reaching a consensus among the panel that it was, he then said this:

“Again, there are a lot of fake news organizations who are presenting fake information. Does anyone believe it’s not heinous despicable act? Is anyone making excuses for these kids or young people?”

The panel all agreed that the acts were heinous while discussing the steps that need to be done in the community to seriously address issues like this.